Simin Behbahani


Simin Behbahani, her surname also appears as Bihbahani was a prominent Iranian contemporary poet, lyricist, and activist. Renowned for her mastery of the ghazal, a traditional poetic form, she became an icon of modern Persian poetry. The Iranian intelligentsia and literati affectionately referred to her as the "Lioness of Iran."
Throughout her illustrious career, Behbahani was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and received numerous literary accolades from around the world. Her work not only enriched Persian literature but also highlighted her role as a significant cultural and intellectual figure in Iran.

Early life and family

Simin Behbahani, whose name at birth was Siminbar Khalili, was the daughter of Abbas Khalili, a poet, diplomat, newspaper publisher, and editor of the newspaper, and Fakhr-Ozma Arghun, a poet and teacher of the French language. Abbās Khalili wrote poetry in both Persian and Arabic and he translated some 1,100 verses of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh into Arabic. Fakhr-Ozma Arghun was one of the progressive women of her time and a member of Kānun-e Nesvān-e Vatan'khāh between 1925 and 1929. In addition to her membership of Hezb-e Democrāt and Kānun-e Zanān, she was for a time editor of the Āyandeh-ye Iran newspaper. She taught French at the Nāmus, Dār ol-Mo'allemāt and No'bāvegān secondary schools in Tehran.

Career

Simin Behbahani started writing poetry at twelve and published her first poem at the age of fourteen. She used the "Char Pareh" style of Nima Yooshij and subsequently turned to ghazal. Behbahani contributed to a historic development by adding theatrical subjects and daily events and conversations to poetry using the ghazal style of poetry. She has expanded the range of the traditional Persian verse forms and has produced some of the most significant works of the Persian literature in the 20th century.
She was President of the Iranian Writers' Association and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999 and 2002. In 2013, she was awarded the Janus Pannonius Grand Prize for Poetry.
In early March 2010, she could not leave the country due to official prohibitions. As she was about to board a plane to Paris, police detained her and interrogated her "all night long". She was released but without her passport. Her English translator, Farzaneh Milani, expressed surprise at the arrest as detention as Behbahani was then 82 and nearly blind, "we all thought that she was untouchable."

Social activities

In 1988, during the mass execution of Iranian political and ideological prisoners, Simin Behbahani composed a poem titled "O Mothers".
During a protest gathering of the Iranian women's movement in Daneshjoo Park, Simin Behbahani was attacked by police officers. She filed a complaint with the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran against the officer who had assaulted her, but according to her lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, "the case was closed in the end."
On 1 September 2008, Behbahani, along with a group of women's rights activists, appeared at the Islamic Consultative Assembly to protest the proposed Family Protection Bill. Addressing a member of parliament, she said: "Sir, I did not vote for you, because I do not even recognize your parliament, but I came here to tell you not to betray the people who voted for you. Do not allow a bill to pass that is against the women of Iran."
On 8 March 2010, when Behbahani was about to travel to Paris for medical treatment and to deliver a speech on International Women's Day, she was stopped by security agents. Her passport was confiscated at the airport, and she was informed that she was “banned from leaving the country.”
Behbahani’s English translator, Farzaneh Milani, expressed astonishment at her arrest and several hours of interrogation at the age of 82, when she was almost completely blind.
Until her death, Simin Behbahani served as the honorary chair of the board of trustees of the Sedigheh Dowlatabadi Library.

Personal life

She had two marriages, the first was to Hassan Behbahani and it ended in divorce. She had three children from her first marriage, one daughter and two sons. Her second marriage was to Manuchehr Koushyar and it ended when he died in 1984.

Death

Behbahani was hospitalized on 6 August 2014. She remained in coma from 6 August until her death on 19 August 2014, and died in Tehran's Pars Hospital of pulmonary heart disease at the age of 87. Her funeral, attended by thousands, was held on 22 August in Vahdat Hall, and her body was buried at Behesht-e Zahra.

Works

[Image:Simin Behbahani - Persian poet 1990.JPG|thumb|Simin Behbahani in Washington DC, ca. 1990.]
  • The Broken Lute
  • Footprint
  • Chandelier
  • Marble
  • Resurrection
  • A Line of Speed and Fire
  • Arzhan Plain
  • Paper Dress
  • A Window of freedom
  • Collected Poems
  • Maybe It's the Messiah Selected Poems, translated by Ali Salami
  • A Cup of Sin, Selected poems, translated by Farzaneh Milani and Kaveh Safa

Awards and honours

English translations

A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems, translated by Farzaneh Milani and Kaveh Safa